Tag Archives: vacuum

The nice thing about capitalism is competition. In a perfect world this means better prices for the consumer, more choice, and a greater incentive for manufacturers to produce quality content. Now most people are aware of iRobot and their line of Roomba vacuum cleaning bots. They do their job well, of course, but they’re also not cheap. The ILIFE A4 Smart Robotic Vacuum Cleaner is a cool looking alternative from our up-and-coming Chinese friends, and for the asking price we’re pretty impressed with what it claims to do. If you’ll pardon the slight Engrish, allow us to paste here some of the product highlights:

– Automatic Cleaning for home and office, large area available up to 180 – 200 square meters
– Smart Sweeping Cleaning Modes, it can meet your different needs, you can choose the dry or wet mop
– Anti-collision System: It can better protect the furniture
– Intelligent Drop Avoidance Induction: IR sensors at the bottom detect the high gap, avoid the dropping, it will avoid the obstacles and change direction automatically by inductor
– Daily / Schedule Cleaning Plan Available: Set the start time, and make the cleaning daily at the fixed time even you are not in office or at home
– OBS Sensors, 1 set wall sensor, 5 IR receivers on the body make this robot vacuum cleaner recognize the barrier and avoid being collided
– Timing Function: You can set up time to clean the room
– 7.6cm Slim Design enable this cleaner working in the narrow space, it is possible to clean the bottom of furniture and corner
– Less Than 65dB Low Noise Design: Easy to help you solve the noisy problem

In other words it looks like they’ve incorporated most, if not all, the features expected from these types of products. But they’ve done so at a $150 price point! When you consider that a new Roomba is probably around $500, the ILIFE A4 Smart Robotic Vacuum Cleaner might end up being the average man’s alternative.

Even though the company had gone on record saying the “technology for robotic vacuum cleaners isn’t ready yet”, that might have been $47 million and 16 years of R&D ago. Today that all changes with the announcement of the Dyson 360 Eye, a robotic vacuum cleaner that they clearly feel is ready for the big time. Unlike its competitors, this bot has a 360 degree camera mounted on top, which allows it to accurately map its surroundings and more efficiently cover its working area. It does the mapping at 30fps, but adjusts its shutter speed to match the bot’s own movement, so it never loses track of its position within the room. A rotating brush made from carbon fiber and nylon bristles spans the width of the front of the bot, kicking dust up in the air and making it easier for the powerful V2 digital motor to suck it up. This dust gets stored in the 0.4L tank, which is plenty for most jobs. The battery lasts about 20 minutes before the Dyson 360 Eye needs to find its way back to its charging station, which it’ll get to even if there are minor obstacles in the way, thanks to its articulated “tank treads”.

Excited? Get ready to wait. The bot is being launched in Japan in Q1 2015, and then the rest of the world afterwards, at an undisclosed price. Expect that price to be: a lot!

Yeah, we had no idea. Apparently these have been around forever, though mostly seen in industrial settings. Something about them being too heavy for home use. But the 7.5 lbs Backpack Vacuum pictured above seems light enough not to give even the most dainty user any hernias. It’s great for obvious reasons: it won’t keep bumping into furniture and tripping over its own wire. With soft padding for the back, and adjustable shoulder straps it might actually be comfortable to wear. The power button is located on the hose so you don’t have to keep reaching around all the time and the 800 watts of power should be enough to suck up most dust and debris while the HEPA filter takes care of allergens.

LG’s new RoboCyking canister vacuum might not be completely autonomous like the Roomba or other robotic cleaners. But instead of having to drag the canister around your home while you clean the floors, it automatically follows you like a dust-filled puppy. While the company doesn’t go into the details of how exactly the system works, I’m assuming it simply senses the ‘tugging’ that comes from the hose attachment while you clean. I’m also hoping it’s smart enough to avoid getting caught on corners, which often makes me want to hurl my vacuum off the balcony.

But following you around the house isn’t the RoboCyking’s only trick. It also operates at a relatively quiet 57dB, which LG promotes as being ideal for “dual-earner couples” who typically have to clean at night after work. It also packs a HEPA filter, carbon air purifier, and an automatic dust compression system using rotating plates that minimizes the amount of dust being blown back out. Available soon, in South Korea at least, for ~$400. (?469,000)

Recently unveiled at IFA, Dyson’s ball technology, which makes their upright vacuum cleaners easier to steer and navigate around your home, will soon be available on their canister vacuums as well. The first model to feature it, the Dyson DC37, uses a central pivot point working in conjunction with an articulated chassis so it’s easier to get around corners, and harder to get stuck. Like with their upright models, a lot of the DC37’s components are actually hidden inside the ball itself, further illustrating that Dyson is still serious about re-inventing every aspect of the vacuum cleaner.

In fact, the Dyson DC37 will also come with their Musclehead floor cleaning tool which detects differences in air pressure, automatically raising or lowering a set of brushes as it passes over carpeted or hard floors. Available sometime near the end of October for ~$616 to $770 (€439 to €549).

It’s hard to debate the superiority of an autonomous vacuum called the Roboking, but that’s not the only ‘trick’ LG has up its sleeve when it comes to challenging the incumbent king of robovacs, the Roomba. To ensure their latest model does the most efficient job of cleaning your floors on a given charge, the Roboking comes equipped with 51 sensors and 3 video cameras allowing it to create a detailed map of its surroundings, and keep track of areas it’s already cleaned.

It’s also wifi equipped, which seems rather pointless for a vacuum until you realize it provides remote access to the Roboking’s cameras allowing it to serve as a roving home security system when you access the video feed from an app on your smartphone. And a limited number of voice commands, like telling it to stop, recharge or requesting weather forecasts will make you feel like you live in a futuristic Jetsons-like world. On paper it certainly outperforms the Roomba in terms of features, but the one area where LG doesn’t seem too concerned about competing is price. As the Roboking will set you back a fairly hefty $830+. (899,000 WON)

As if we weren’t already enamored enough with Dyson’s high-tech looking vacuums that still outperform the competition, the company has gone and created a limited edition version of their DC25 Ball vacuum that’s unfortunately already sold out. Nothing has changed with the vacuum’s design except how it looks, now sporting a white finish featuring annotated notes highlighting the design thoughts and processes that went into its creation. From what I can tell, at $529.99 the limited edition version sold for about $30 more than the standard model, though as part of a promotion Dyson will be randomly selecting 5 owners to receive a full refund.

When it comes to being a robot vacuum the G182, available from Chinavasion, does everything you’d expect a reasonably equipped model to do these days, like automatically dock with the charging base when the battery gets low, and it comes with a wireless IR virtual fence to keep it from wandering into places it shouldn’t go.

But the inclusion of a remote controlled pan and tilt IR-equipped webcam, which has the unfortunate side effect of ensuring it won’t fit under most couches, means the G182 also doubles as a remote cleaning tool and surveillance unit that can be controlled and monitored from anywhere in the world you have a net connection. It connects to your home wi-fi network providing both a live video and audio feed, and the whole setup is perfect for anyone who’s ever worried that someone might break into their home only to be horrified to find the floors are dirty. How embarrassing! ~$500.

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.